My midwifery elective placement

Hi everyone,

As most of you are already aware in September 2022, I started at Brighton University to study Midwifery after over 15 years of dreaming of doing it. Recently I have been told about the elective placement opportunities of which I had no idea before I started the course. It takes place in March 2024 for two weeks when I will be in my second year. The fact I’m here at almost 35 studying my dream course at my dream university is a pinch-me moment enough but this trip is something I thought I would never have the opportunity or the confidence to do. So, I am grabbing this opportunity with both hands and I’m aware if I get to go it will be purely because of the generosity of others and I will be completely in awe and unable to thank you all enough.

Please continue reading if you want to know more…….

I have chosen to apply to go to three countries out of the many available. The reason I haven’t chosen one specific country is due to not knowing which country I will get a place in until October/November this year and I feel like I need more time to see if I can raise enough money to be able to undertake the trip. My first choice is Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. While on placement there I will volunteer right alongside working midwives, and see women give birth in many different locations and many before reaching the wards due to the severe lack of bed space. I will work in both the government hospital and the local hospital. Watch practices that are dramatically different to those in the UK and most importantly could work in the neonatal intensive care ward as well as postnatal and labour wards. There is also a specialist department for obstetrics dedicated to HIV-positive patients. I will work alongside Tanzanian healthcare students who will show me many local practices that I won’t see working in the UK. My second choice is Kandy in Sri Lanka. The main reason Sri Lanka stood out to me was the need for volunteers and the severity of the lack of beds. The lack of resources here has a direct effect on the care given to the patients and affects how staff can do their job. The staff here prioritise patients’ physical welfare over any emotional aspects out of necessity. I like to think that as a volunteer I can help support these women emotionally and make a difference. The hospital itself Is a referral hospital so, therefore, sees a lot of complicated pregnancies and births. This will allow me to see things that I might not when working in the UK. While here I can volunteer in the antenatal ward, labour ward, postnatal ward as well as the premature baby unit and lactation centre. My third choice is Kathmandu in Nepal. I was drawn to this location firstly due to my Mums love for the country. She has been travelling many times and has always expressed that Nepalese people are among the friendliest in the world, more importantly, when I looked into the hospital, I found that the infant mortality rate is very high despite the effort of the midwives and quite often due to lack of breastfeeding support and therefore lack of feeding. I’m aware I might not be able to make a difference to change this but if I can go somewhere where I can help by giving breastfeeding advice and support to a mother and therefore help the babies being born then I want to try. Social and cultural factors make a huge difference in the care women receive and I think this will teach me so much to bring back to the UK. This hospital has antenatal clinics, a labour room, a birthing centre, two theatres, a sick baby unit, maternal and baby intensive care units, postnatal facilities and OBG units.

While I am on my elective, I will have the weekends to explore and be a regular tourist which will probably involve getting sunburnt, dying in the hot weather and trying to find local vegan food! When I know what country, I am going to I will look more into things for me to do, but any activities I chose to do will be paid for by myself. The money I want to raise is purely for the placement itself, flights and the other things listed below.

I will be undertaking this placement through a company called Work the World. The cost for these three countries is different but averages around £1700. The money raised will pay for accommodation, full-time catering, a management team, a housekeeper, a language teacher and most importantly 24hr security as well as a 24/7 international emergency team and much more. These costs do not include flights which again average at around £700/£750 but I won’t be able to book these until November and expect the price to rise slightly, transfers, travel insurance, vaccinations or visas.

I feel that this opportunity is once in a lifetime and one I defiantly will not have again. This elective will allow me to exchange knowledge with local staff and will give me an appreciation of what it means to look after women going through labour and childbirth when faced with a lack of resources. It will give me a vital insight into the challenges women and their families face outside of the UK and will appreciate more than ever our amazing NHS. It will give me a new perspective on different approaches to midwifery care and my main goal is to make a difference to the women and families I will meet when there. I’m excited to see the cultural diversity this placement will offer and how this will influence my practice. This placement will allow me to return as a changed student midwife with a better understanding of maternity care and how services can be improved by seeing how maternity and healthcare work within those other countries and I’m excited to learn the many different sociocultural beliefs surrounding pregnancy and childbirth. I believe this experience will help shape the midwife I will be when qualified.

The main thing I will be doing whilst volunteering in these counties is support. Giving support, care, kindness and most of all compassion. I have been told by some of the families I have had the pleasure to work with in my first block of placements that I am understanding, happy and kind and I’m hoping I will have the opportunity to take those qualities to people who don’t have the same access to healthcare as people living in the UK. The staff in these countries are so stretched that staff are unable to give personal and emotional support as they are too busy and have too many patients, this will be where I will help hopefully. I am under no illusion that it’s going to be emotionally difficult, I will see things that will shock me and without a doubt, I will find it hard but I hope it only makes me stronger, and more resilient as a person and intern as a student midwife and give me a broader sense of healthcare around the world.

During the summer I hope to start some fundraising with my amazing friends from university and will be doing things like bake sales, tombolas and things like that so watch this space. I hope you can appreciate that it’s taken a lot of time and overthinking to decide if I should ask for donations or not. Unfortunately, my student loan just simply can’t cover the cost of this once-in-a-lifetime trip. I completely understand and appreciate the current cost of living crisis and therefore I want to thank you for even taking the time to read this, if you can donate anything at all big or small, I would appreciate it more than you will know and more than I can express.

If for any reason, I don’t get a place for the elective placement everyone that donated will receive a refund. I will update the page as much as I can and of course, will be adding lots of photos when I am there.

Thank you for taking the time to read this,

Alex